This Senate Concurrent Resolution honors and recognizes the leadership, achievements, and sacrifices of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and urges all citizens of the First State to participate fittingly in the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 20, 2025.
Maddy summaryThis resolution establishes the operational rules for the Delaware Senate during the 153rd General Assembly. It sets specific meeting schedules (e.g., Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2 p.m., Wednesdays at 4 p.m.), requires public proceedings with web broadcasting, and outlines procedures for committee work, virtual meetings, and voting. The rules directly affect Senate members, officers, and staff by governing how legislative business is conducted. The resolution passed with 14 votes in favor, 6 against, and 1 absent on December 16, 2024.
House Substitute No. 2 to House Bill 212 prohibits manufactured home community owners from increasing rent if the rent was increased by 5 percent or more the previous year or rental period, instead permitting an increase capped at 3 percent. This Act does not prohibit a community owner from increasing rent to market rent in phases as called for in current law, even if doing so would otherwise violate the prohibition on increasing rent after a 5 percent or more increase. It also allows a greater increase where more than 50% of the homeowners use the property as a second residence. This Act clarifies that penalties of rent reduction and repayment of excess rent will be imposed for a community owner who increases rent in violation of any provision of Title 25, Chapter 70. It also requires community owners to annually provide certain information relating to the lot rental assistance program to its homeowners and to certify to DEMHRA its compliance with the program requirements, and allows DEMHRA to request further information about the program as needed. It requires enrollment in the lot rental assistance program to remain open year-round. It requires community owners to provide specified contact information to DEMHRA within 60 days of taking ownership, possession, or control of a manufactured housing community. This House Substitute No. 2 requires the Manufactured House Ombudsperson Office to hold 2 meetings in each county per year where it offers information about lot rental assistance and other programs and services homeowners may be eligible for.
This Act updates the definition of "sexual orientation" throughout the Delaware Code by adding asexuality and pansexuality. Asexuality refers to individuals with little to no sexual attraction to other individuals, although asexual individuals may desire emotionally intimate relationships with other individuals. Pansexuality refers to individuals who are attracted sexually or romantically, or both, to another individual regardless of that individual's sex or gender identity. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This bill amends the Merit System of Personnel Administration by allowing for preference in hiring for casual seasonal employees who are performing the same job duties of a posted merit position.
This Substitute bill differs from House Bill No. 252 by placing the Delaware Institute of Higher Education year-long teacher residency program under Section 1312 of Title 14 rather than Section 1305.This Substitute bill grants graduates of the Delaware Institute of Higher Education teacher-residency program 1 year of experience credit in addition to any other experience granted under Section 1312. The goal of this Act is to incentivize a new graduate who has completed the year-long Delaware residency program to stay and teach in Delaware by elevating their starting pay grade level by giving them 1 year of experience credit.
This Act mandates that employees of institutions of higher education and students receive training in sexual assault prevention. Although the current law makes training available, it has not been required. This Act further changes the reporting period in which academic institutions must report information on campus sexual assaults from the calendar year to the academic year. Finally, this Act requires the DOJ to post the annual reports from the previous 5 years on its website and to include the aggregate data from the previous 5 years in each report so that data trends are easily identified.
This Act requires the Department of Human Resources to develop an executive branch policy restricting nepotism in state employment and prohibiting supervision of a state employee by a relative. It further requires the legislative and judicial branches, as well as offices headed by other elected officials to develop and implement comparable policies.
This Substitute bill adds 5 additional speech-language diagnosis to the 2 diagnoses listed in H.B. 273 and references that all 7 speech-language diagnoses are classified in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) for billing purposes. This Substitute bill broadens the definition of “child” from 1 year to first grade to include all children from birth to age 18. This Substitute bill deletes the definition of carrier since the term is not referred to in these new sections and clarifies that Section 2 refers to group and blanket health insurance policies not individual health policies. This Substitute bill also clarifies that the Act applies to all health insurance contracts delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed after December 31, 2024.
A major environmental concern is the spread of pathogens and invasive species across water bodies. The use of live bait in both non-tidal and tidal waters can inadvertently result in the transfer of invasive species and pathogens to new waters. Freshwater ecosystems are particularly susceptible to invasive species spreading disease and destroying Delaware’s native species and freshwater habitats. This Act requires the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, through regulations, to determine which species of live bait may be harvested, imported, transported, sold, or used, in the tidal and non-tidal waters of the State. This Act requires the Department to post all such promulgated regulations on the Department’s website. This Act also permits the Department, by regulation, to prohibit or restrict the importation or sale of live bait species from other states or countries. This Act is to be implemented the earlier of 6 months after enactment or notice by the Secretary of the Department to the Register of Regulations that final regulations have been adopted.
